Chapter 3
Science Experiment Laboratory
Dr. Richmond hums a tune as he places three glass vials containing a purple substance in a centrifuge machine, he pushes a button and the device begins to spin mixing the contents of the test tubes together.
In the expansive laboratory, there are three cubicles made of bullet and sound-proof glass with pipes connecting to each of them.
One of the cubicles is occupied by an Asian girl; the second is occupied by a white man while the third is empty.
The Asian girl has been hitting on the glass cubicle and screaming but the sound proof glass made it impossible for her voice to be heard.
The scientist hears a banging on the metal door of the lab and he goes to check who it was.
"Open up doc, I got another one for you," the Messenger said as the scientist looks through the peep hole.
He swipes his keycard and the door unlocks.
The Messenger lumbers in carrying the drunken girl.
"Where do you want her?" He asked.
"Bring her over here," he directs him to a surgery table; he shifts the surgical instruments on the table to one side and the Messenger dumps her on the table.
Dr. Richmond puts on a rubber glove and picks up a small surgical knife.
"Hey, how the hell am I supposed to confirm your racial virus works if you kill this one?"
"I'm not killing her, I just need some of her blood to conduct a DNA test," he said making an incision on her palm and collecting the blood with a test tube till it's filled up.
"You could have done that with a syringe doc."
"Is the Messenger terrified of the sight of blood? Is she drunk? She didn't even move a muscle," he covers the small cut with a plaster and mixes the blood with some chemicals;
"I had to give her a little dose of my anesthetic. She's black alright, why do I have to wait for another hour for you to conduct your little DNA test?"
"Well my DNA test takes minutes, she needs to be at least 30% black for the virus to infect her with class red, and this baby right here will determine how much percent of black she is in no time," he proceeds to a DNA testing machine and pours the content in a container on top of it, seals the lid shut and turns it on.
"What the hell is class red?" The messenger asked impatiently.
"This revolutionary virus I discovered, RABID-20 as I prefer to call it affects the part of the human brain responsible for fear and aggression known as the amygdala and brings out their innermost violent desires and thoughts. Now the unique thing about this virus is that it affects the victims in different ways based on their racial disposition. After some tests, I divided its effect into three classes depending on the effect it has on the victim. Class blue is the first phase of the virus attack, it affects the whites mostly and makes the infected prone to violence; anger, rioting, arson, fighting and so on. Class yellow will affect mostly Asians; the infected will be prone to extreme murderous tendencies and acts. While class red will affect victims of the black race; the infected will be prone to suicidal and murderous acts. Oh the result is out," he pushes a button on the DNA machine and it prints out a slip. The scientist pulls it out and adjusts his spectacles to read the results.
"So? Is she good?" The messenger asked.
"Perfecto, she's 45% black."
"Let's get on with the test then. My clients are getting a little impatient about the test videos."
"Right away. Could you be a gentleman and help me put her in that pod?" He points at the empty glass pod and the messenger picks up the half-unconscious girl and drops her in the pod.
"Is this your place?" Bimbo asks slowly opening her eyes.
"Sort of, just relax. She's waking up. How do you close this damn thing?" He queries.
"Push that button on the door, the green one," Dr. Richmond said as he sets up a camera on a tripod stand.
"What does the red one do?"
"It opens."
"Where am I?" She looks at her palm and sees blood and becomes terrified. She looks up and sees the door of the pod closing and she lunges at it.
The Messenger was faster, he kicked her and she sprawled back inside the pod.
"Let me out!" She screams but her voice is muffled as the door shuts.
"Grab a mask, the show is about to begin," Dr. Richmond puts on a gas mask while the Messenger gets behind the camera, picks up one from the table and wears it.
"RABID-20 test entry #98," the scientist picks up the test tube from the centrifuge device and examines the purple mixture under the light.
"That's the virus?"
"Yea, they can be airborne as well but lasts for only 10 minutes without a host," he transfers the content of the test tube into 20 smaller glass vials, "one of these can infect a whole state in the U.S." He said picking up one of the glass vials.
The scientist yanks out the oxygen supply hose to the pods and empties the content of the glass vial inside the hose and reconnects it.
The messenger looks on as the purple gas fills up the pods. The three occupants scramble about the pod trying to cover their nose but it was futile. After a while, they stood still in different positions.
"What's happening doc? Why did they stop?"
"They are hibernating as the virus travels round to their brains but this takes just few seconds. There they go."
The white man appears to be frightened and retreats to a corner of the pod, then his mood switches to that of rage and he rushes to attack them but hits his head on the glass and falls. He repeats this few more times, then he starts snarling at them and clawing at the glass trying to climb it. The Asian girl in the other pod is also in a rage as she keeps screaming at the top of her voice, she picks up the chair in her pod and throws it at the scientist but it hits the reinforced glass wall.
She then struggles to yank out a metal wash hand basin in the pod.
Meanwhile Bimbo, is running around the pod banging her head on the wall and door severally. She starts screaming as she uses her finger to claw at her face and body.
"I'll like to see what happens when they are put together in one pod," the messenger said.
"What? That's too dangerous."
"Maybe I need to remind you that the Syndicate is paying for all of this and you would have been wallowing in some high security prison for fucking up the previous experiments at G.S. Tech. Now let me break this down to you, I am the Messenger, the Syndicate delivers their message through me and you goddamn do whatever it is they ask you to do."
"Okay okay, I have to put them down first," he turns off the oxygen supply and they gasp for air and became unconscious, "please give me a hand here," he opens the Asian girl's pod and drags her out while the Messenger carries her to the first pod where the white man is lying unconscious.
The scientist also opens the pod with the ebony girl in it and tries to lift her.
"She's heavier than she looks," he said breathlessly.
The Messenger lifts her by the leg while Dr. Richmond lifts her head and they carry her to the first pod.
"You go in," the messenger said and the scientist goes in first and they drop her, "is he moving?"
The scientist turns back and in a flash the Messenger is outside the pod and pushes the red button closing the pod's door.
"You motherfu..." The scientist's voice is muffled as the door closes shut. He starts banging on the door.
The Messenger walks over to the table and puts the glass vials in a small case. He then goes over to the oxygen supply and turns it on.
The three infected subjects open their eyes to see the new occupant banging at the door.
"No no no! Please don't do this," the scientist pleaded as the Asian girl lunged at him and climbs on his back hitting him with all her strength. The white man soon joins her punching him crazily. The ebony girl pulls out the metal sink and starts hitting the scientist and everyone in her way. Soon it was an all-out fight till they all killed themselves, blood splattered all over the pod's interior and the glass.
The Messenger scoffs as he opens the camera; he takes out the memory card and puts it in his coat pocket. Taking one last look round the laboratory to check for cameras, he exits the laboratory.